B’nai B’rith International is dismayed by the decision made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to establish a UNESCO chair of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the Islamic University of Gaza—an institution inextricably linked with the terrorist organization Hamas.

“To so strongly associate an organization meant to promote peaceful goals with a terrorist organization is yet another contributor to the world body’s tarnished reputation in the international community,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said.

The Hamas-controlled University promulgates anti-Semitic, racist, anti-Israel ideologies and is believed to have served as a storage facility for weapons used against Israel. Since the beginning of 2012, hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state, adding to the thousands of such indiscriminate attacks against civilians since Israel fully withdrew from the territory in 2005.

“Establishing this special UNESCO scientific chair in effect legitimates an anti-Semitic institution so closely associated with a terrorist organization. This decision flies in the face of rational thought, and once again gravely politicizes an agency that should be dealing with education, science and culture,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said.